St. Louis’ First Pick in Second Round, Again

By Chris DeGroat

June 18th, 2002

If there’s anything that the Blues should be used to, it’s waiting until the 2nd round to claim their first player in the NHL’s annual entry draft. For the 9th time in 13 seasons, the Blues will not have a first round selection in Saturday’s draft.

The Blues sent this year’s 1st round pick to the Phoenix Coyotes in the trade for Keith Tkachuk, so the Blues’ first pick will be the 48th overall pick, which is a compensatory pick that they received when Pierre Turgeon signed with the Dallas Stars last July. Also in the 2nd round, the Blues will have the 56th pick.

Needless to say, there won’t be any Jay Bouwmeesters or Rick Nashes laying around when the Blues get their first chance to add some well needed depth to the organization.

In the 3rd round, the Blues only have one pick, the 89th overall pick.

When defenseman Sean Hill was sent back to Carolina, the Blues received the Hurricanes’ 4th round pick. But, when the Blues traded for Ray Ferraro, they sent that same 4th round pick to Atlanta, leaving the Blues with only their own pick in the 4th round, the 120th pick in the draft.

The Blues round out the draft with one pick in each of the 6th (190th overall) , 7th (221st overall) , 8th (253rd overall) and 9th (284th overall) rounds. Their 5th round pick was lost in the trade for Scott Mellanby.